Politics in Britain

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 623, 27 March 1929, Page 8

Politics in Britain

House of Commons at Work

FIOPES and fears of big political changes at t Lie British I General Elections are entertained by parties in the House of Commons, where the Conservatives, under the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, are now working on a majority of close on 200 Commoners. About 10 per cent, of its membership is the normal attendance at Commons debates.

r pHE strangest thing about the Brit- -*■ ish House of Commons, upon which world-wide political attention is now centred, is that a party with a majority of nearly 200 seats over all other groups should ever be in danger of defeat. Yet the Government in England is never quite sure of itself on snap divisions, for politics in the Homeland are entirely different from those in this Dominion.

The spectacle of 10 per cent, of the members of the New Zealand House of Representatives turning out for an important debate would appear ludic-

rous in the eyes of the full galleries at Parliament Buildings. Eight members of our House of 80 simply would not comprise a quorum, and the business of the country could not go on. But 10 per cent, of the British House of Commons is described by an eminent political authority as the normal strength of the chamber, even when momentous debates are in progress. Sixty members out of 615 is a common roll call there. Sometimes the attendance drops to 40. Upon a decisive vote of the British people at the General Election in 1924, the Conservative Party, led by Mr. Stanley Baldwin, the present Prime Minister, returned to power with 419 seats. Labour secured 151, Liberal 40 and Independents 5. The state of the parties at Home is a very elastic circumstance, however, and frequent by-elections cause rapid fluctuations in membership. Since

last election 61 seats have been contested, and a gradual drift away from Conservatism is shown in the net result. Sixteen seats have been lost from the Baldivin side of the House, 12 of them going to Labour, three to Liberal and one to an Independent. Recent by-elections, moreover, have been anything but encouraging to the Government. The House of Commons is not a snug little chamber cosily furnished with exclusive desks—one for each member —such as we have in New Zealand, and seldom is there a full complement of Commoners. An intimate picture of the sitting strength is, in fact, given by the Rt. Hon. T. P. O’Connor, “Father” of the House of Commons, who reveals that: “One of the many public errors with regard to the House of Commons is that it usually consists of a large audience profoundly Interested, profoundly antagonised or appreciated by a big quota of the more than 600 members that compose it. As a matter of fact, the normal attendance at the House is, I should say. from 60 to 70 members —sometimes it gets down to 40 and even fewer. “This occurs even when there is a big debate on. The reason even of their attendance, I am bound to admit, is not so much because the subject is enthralling or the speakers attractive, hut because of the 40 who are present, probably 39 are anxious to speak.” The General Elections in England this year are more interesting than ever before, mainly because they will be the first occasion for the use of the equal franchise —the legislative realisation of the ambitions of all parties. The sexes have now been placed upon complete electoral equality and a male majority of 3,000,000 voters has been transformed into a female majority of 2,000,000. WOMEN’S VOTE WILL COUNT This measure, which was welcomed by prominent statesmen as “the charter of a truer comradeship between the sexes in dealing with the grave difficulties of the time,” has enfranchised 1,800,000 women over 30, and 2,200,000 women under 30 who have the responsibility of marriage or of earning their own living, as well as 216,000 spinsters without occupation. The fight for these extra votes will be one of the most vigorous features of the elections. How the women will vote in exercise of their first electoral privilege was predicted recently by a noted reviewer, who saw in the added rolls a sympathetic thought for Labour and Liberalism, and comparatively little support for the Conservative Party. Critics of the political situation at Home, In fact, have made the case for Conservatism a gloomy one, Indeed. Huge fighting funds have been organised by all parties, however, and a willing political battle will he waged before the new House of the People is chosen for another five years.